The Bombay High Court has acquitted a man accused of rape, ruling that the woman’s behaviour was inconsistent with that of a person of “ordinary prudence.”
In a recent ruling, Justice GA Sanap of the Nagpur bench observed, “In my opinion, this conduct of the victim is not consistent with the conduct of a person of ordinary prudence placed in a similar situation.”
Regarding the woman’s claim that the man had booked a hotel room for their meeting, Justice Sanap remarked, “A girl meeting a young boy for the first time would not go to a hotel room. Such a conduct on the part of a boy would obviously send the alarming signals to the girl.”
Justice Sanap further commented that if a girl accompanied an unknown person to a secluded area and encountered trouble, she would likely cry out for help. “Even if, on some promise, the girl accompanies an unknown person to a room and if she is put in any trouble, then she is bound to raise hue and cry,” he stated.
Justice Sanap highlighted that the hotel room was not far from the hotel’s busy areas, stating that the circumstances of the alleged incident in the hotel room “appear to be unbelievable,” Lawbeat reported.
“In my view, the occurrence of the incident in the hotel room, therefore, appears to be unbelievable. The subsequent conduct of the victim is not consistent,” Justice Sanap’s order read.
The decision came as the court was reviewing an appeal by the accused, who had been convicted by a Sessions Court.
About the case
The woman, in her complaint, had alleged that she connected with the man on Facebook and later exchanged phone numbers. The man then took her to a hotel room, where he allegedly asked her to change into a T-shirt he provided and took photographs of her while she was changing.
He reportedly threatened to share the photos if she refused to have sexual intercourse. Fearing public shame, she complied. Despite this, the accused still shared the photos on Facebook and with her relatives, leading the woman to file an FIR against him.
The bench also observed that although the photos were made public in March 2017, there was a delay in lodging the report, which was only filed in October 2017.
“It is evident that the victim, after noticing the attitude of the accused, discontinued her relationship with him. It is, therefore, possible that the accused might have decided to trouble them and therefore, on repetitive publication of the photographs of the victim in social media, the parents would have lodged the report,” the court stated.
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